Rainbows

Like most people I don’t really like it when it rains, FD1 our dog hates it, but across the fields sometimes we see the most beautiful rainbows and it makes being out it in so much worth the while. The mythological bridge that Norsemen would take to the next life.

What I didn’t know was that the drops of rain have to be between 0.01 and 4 millimetres in diameter and be dropping at an angle of 42 degrees! Light is such an amazing thing, and the differences in it are astounding once you start to really pay attention to it.

Different days bring different light, and when we visit our families we really notice the difference in the light where they live. These different lights must give you very different feelings on each day, not that many of us really get to spend that much time in it anymore. D

The healing energies of light

I am currently reading The healing energies of light by Roger Coghill, which is a really easy book to pick up highlighting how important light has been and still is on many levels. I’m only about 50 pages in, and I have already learnt so much about how without light nothing would happen. It is something I have never really thought about the light that the sun gives us daily, and why would I as it is something that I just assume is always going to happen. But I am realising how quickly the sun can kill my plants if I don’t water them! As well as without sunlight nothing grows, and in fact I think that resonates with me with us all working in offices all day with little natural light, can that be good for us really?

Of course animals and birds internal clocks tell them when to migrate, hibernate and when to breed. They are much more in tune with the day cycle, those animals that live in the day go and find somewhere safe to sleep at dusk. We have forgotten that this is something we should be doing, settling down to sleep at dusk, but electricity has meant that we all stay up past our natural internal bedtime, and wonder why we are all tired in the morning!

One of the illustrations in the book showed a piece of work by the botanist Carolus Linnaeus, which was a floral clock, which showed the time by when they opened. Pimpernel at 8am, Marigold at 9am, Alpine Dandelion at 10am, Star of Bethlehem at 11am, Passion Flowers at 12noon, Carnation at 1pm, Squill at 2pm, Pyre Thrum at 3pm, Purple Hawkweed at 4pm, Catchfly at 5pm, Evening Primrose at 6pm, and White Lychins at 7pm. It really is a lovely illustration, but how do they know the time?

But key for me is how important light is to us, it has been shown that those who work mostly outside don’t tend to suffer with depression, and we all know how lovely it is to walk and be in the sun. How things always feel better when it is sunny and how everyones moods just seem to be lighter. Growing more of our own food has led to me spending far more time outside than I have ever done, and it really does make you feel good working on the garden in this weather.